Content audits are a great tool when you’re working on website content strategy projects. In this guide, you’ll find:

• Step-by-step instructions on how to do a content audit
• What the differences are between an audit, inventory, and evaluation

What is a content audit?

Content audits are a specific process or method of evaluating your website content. A content audit involves taking stock of all or some of the content on a website, “auditing” or evaluating it based on a set of criteria, then synthesizing what you’ve learned in the audit process to make decisions about what to do with all your content.

As you research content audits, you’ll probably also come across the the terms content inventory and content evaluation, or an evaluative content audit.

What is a content inventory or evaluation?

A content inventory is usually the first step in the content auditing process. An inventory is what it sounds like: a spreadsheet (or other type of database) that documents all the existing content. What a content inventory does not include is any kind of evaluation of the content. It’s purely taking stock of what content is there.

An evaluative content audit or a content evaluation is just another term for a content audit in which you the purpose is to measure or evaluate the effectiveness of the content. In my humble opinion, a content audit that does not evaluate is just an inventory, and these terms are superfluous. I’ll be using the term content audit to refer to the process of evaluating content within an inventory.

How long does a content audit take?

How long your audit process takes will really depend on the scope. A small website can be audited in a few days, and a very large website might be a whole month of work.

Why and when should you do a content audit?

You can do content audits quarterly or annually, but a regular content audit is a great way to keep your web content efforts on the right track. If you’ve got a lot of web content that you haven’t really measured or thought about in a while, it’s definitely time to do an audit.

Can I just use a template?

Sure, but you should still read this article first. Templates are great, but can lead people astray. Every audit is and should be a bit different, so there’s probably not a going to be a perfect template out there. And honestly, it’s just a spreadsheet with columns. I promise you don’t need a template… it’ll be fine.

How to do a content audit from start to finish

The 6 steps to running a successful content audit are:

1. Define your goals
2. Define your evaluators
3. Create a content inventory
4. Audit your content
5. Synthesize what you learned
6. Present your findings

Step 1: Define why you are doing a content audit

This might sound silly, but you should be very clear about why your organization wants to audit their website content.

If you don’t know why you’re doing it, then there’s a good chance it will be a waste of time. You should know what business goals are driving the content audit, and what the business hopes to learn through the process. Knowing this will help you create better “evaluators” for your audit, and also help later in step 5 as you look for key insights from the audit work.

Questions to explore before doing a content audit:

• What do we hope to learn or answer through this audit?
• What business problems, if any, are driving this project?
• Who will be involved in the audit, and what will their role or responsibilities be?
• What is a logical scope for this audit? Do we really need to inventory every single page, or should we focus on key pages or specific sections of the website?

To answer these questions, you can host a goals alignment workshop with your team or client. Once you’re clear on the goals and scope, you’re ready to break out your spreadsheet.

Step 3: Define your content evaluators

Now that you’re clear on the project goals, it’s time to decide on your evaluators-a set of criteria you will use to audit your content. This helps you answer the question, what does “good content” mean to our team?

Examples of evaluators to use in content audits:

• Readable: is the content easy to read and scan?
• Accessible: is the content accessible? Does it meet or exceed WCAG 2.0 guidelines?
• Relevant: is the content relevant to the intended audience?
• Accurate: is the information accurate (especially if it’s old)?
• Findable: could users easily find the information when they needed it?
• Brand strategy: does the content feel “on brand”? Is the voice right?

These evaluators should be something that any stakeholders agree on up front. Whether you are working in-house or as an outside vendor, you’ll probably be presenting your audit to someone. Those people need to be involved in, or aware of, the evaluators ahead of time. Getting aligned early avoids any needless revision or re-auditing later.

Step 3: Create a Content Inventory

The first step in a content audit is to do a content inventory. As you know, the inventory is a spreadsheet with all the content-usually individual web pages within a domain.

Before you start your inventory, you’ll need a spreadsheet. I like AirTable or Google Sheets because they are easy to share, but you can also use Excel.

You’ll need columns that make sense for your project so that your inventory makes sense to you and your team. Again, this is why you need to set goals for the audit, because you’ll want to tailor the columns in your spreadsheet to meet your project goals.

Columns in your spreadsheet should definitely include: Columns you might have, depending on your project: Key metrics and KPIs you include could be:

You may want to use a tool that can (to some extent) automate the inventory process, like Screaming Frog. Personally, I find that tools like this end up taking more time because I ultimately want to edit or restructure the spreadsheet-but it’s up to you.

Also, I think if you’ve got more than 10 columns in your inventory spreadsheet, you might need to rethink it. The last thing you want to do is waste time taking inventory of things that won’t matter to the project.

Step 4: Audit your content

Woohoo! You’re at the auditing stage. Now is the time to add some more columns to your spreadsheet: your evaluators. In the audit step, you’re going to look back at each page in your inventory and give the page a score for each evaluator.

Some people like to give pages a score of 1–10 for their criteria. Other people might want to use a “pass/fail” scoring method, or a “great/okay/bad” system. You could also come up with something else entirely. The point is to have a system you that makes sense to you and that you can repeat for each page.

You’ll also want to have and use a “notes” column during the audit stage. Your insights and raw reactions are valuable. What stands out to you as significant? Write down glaring errors, stuff you love, questions you have, etc.

Step 5: Synthesize what you learned

The tedious part is over. Now, you get to look back at your spreadsheet and make sense of all the raw data you just collected.

This is really the most valuable part of a content audit. As the person who did the audit, it’s your mission to make sense of all the small details and find larger insights.

Synthesis can get overwhelming if you just audited a ton of pages, have developed “spreadsheet-eyes,” and your brain has turned to mush.

Here’s a 3-part approach I use that can help.

Insight, proof, recommendation method

When synthesizing what you learned from the audit, try thinking about grouping together these 3 things:

1. Insights: a high-level finding and why it matters
2. Proof: some type of data point from your audit that supports your insight
3. Recommendation: a recommendation about what the team should do with this information next

For example:

Let’s say that part of why you are doing the audit is to figure out what the web content team should focus on next quarter. So, you might write…

Insight: Much of our content is not accurate anymore because it has not been updated in years. This matters because these pages are still getting traffic, which means our users are wasting valuable time that could be spent on content that will support our sales funnel.

Proof: We know this is a big problem because X number of our pages have inaccurate, dated information.

Recommendation: We need to remove or update the dated content from the website; then we need a content governance plan to avoid this in the future.

This method can stop you from spinning around in re-reading your detailed spreadsheet for days on end. 😊

Step 6: Present your findings

Finally, you should present your findings to your team in a way that they will pay attention to and easily understand.

Do not show them your awesome spreadsheet. It is awesome, I know. But no one else wants to see it.

Instead, create a slide deck and schedule a meeting with your stakeholders. You’ll need at least an hour to present your findings. It’s a good idea to send out an agenda for this meeting, too.

Outline for a content audit findings deck:

You can do this however you want, but this is the slide deck format I use and it works well.

Methodology (3–5 slides)

Findings (1 slide each)

Recommendations (1 slide each)

Discussion (1 slide)

That’s it!

Critical thinking is key

Content audits are incredibly useful when you do them thoughtfully, by getting your team aligned, and setting clear goals and scope first. What I hope you’ve taken away from this article is that getting value out of your content audit takes a bit of planning and structure.

As long as you are thinking critically as you go through the process, you’re on your way to content auditing success.

Originally published at https://www.avoagency.com on August 14, 2020.

How to Do a Web Content Audit in 6 Steps was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What makes UX Writing good?

With something like copywriting, the goal is crystal clear: make more sales. But with microcopy, the user is already a customer, and the goals may not seem so clear and easy to measure.

That’s why in order to write “good” microcopy, it helps to first understand what “good” even means. How do you know your microcopy is working? How do you know it’s not?

You’ll know if your microcopy is working if your users can:

• Easily use and understand your interface, without needing much (or any) assistance
• Easily use and understand your interface, even with disabilities and in various contexts/platforms/environments
• Accomplish their tasks and goals quickly, without having to think too much
• Enjoy using your interface and come back to it often

You can measure the success of your microcopy through:

• User and usability testing (most effective testing method)
• Web and mobile data, heat maps, and visitor recordings
• Analysis of customer support and help requests

But what are some underlying principles to help guide your UX writing decisions in the first place? And what if you’re not a UX writer, but you need to review someone’s work?

To help with that, I’ve synthesized my experience and approach into 7 guiding principles. These principles don’t mean you shouldn’t test your copy or do user testing, but they can be seen as general concepts to guide your work or your evaluations.

The 7 principles of good UX writing:

1. Usable
2. Helpful
3. Accessible
4. Clear
5. Appropriate
6. Seamless
7. Branded

Before we dive into the principles in more detail, let’s quickly define two terms.

“Microcopy” refers to the small words and phrases within a product interface that make it usable. Without microcopy, people would not be able to use or understand apps, kiosks, portals, or websites. It is an essential component of a user experience.

“UX Writers” are the people who write microcopy, and “UX Writing” is the act, practice, or field. Although the terms microcopy and UX writing are relatively new, the practice of writing microcopy has been around for as long as we’ve had interfaces. For a long time, marketing writers, technical writers and designers were tasked with writing microcopy — as if those people didn’t have enough to do already. Design leaders today are realizing that microcopy is so central to the user experience that a specialist should write it. We couldn’t agree more. For a more in-depth definition, check out our post on what UX writing is.

Alright — on to the 7 principles!

7 principles of good UX writing and how to apply them

Let’s dig into those guiding principles of what makes microcopy good, and how we can actually accomplish those things.

1. Usable

Usable microcopy makes it easy for people to literally use your product or interface without thinking about it too much. You’ll know something is not usable when people have a ton of questions about how your product works, how to navigate through it, and how to complete tasks they want to do. I think of usable microcopy as words that improve or enable the functionality of a product.

During the writing and revision process, consider usability before delight. If something doesn’t work, that cheeky bit of microcopy might actually be annoying. Your product has to work well first before it can be cute.

You can make your microcopy more usable by:

• Understanding your users and what they care about by conducting user interviews, surveys, and user tests and usability studies.
• Understanding how your interface works by collaborating with your developers and asking tons of “what if?” questions.

2. Helpful

Helpful microcopy goes a step past making it usable. It’s microcopy that offers up useful information that you might not have known you needed.

As a metaphor, imagine that you’re en route to stay at a beach resort for a weekend. You call the front desk to ask if they have pharmacy onsite. The reception could say, “no,” and that would be technically be accurate. But they could also say something like, “We don’t have a pharmacy, but we have a small selection of drugs in our gift shop. What are you looking for?” The latter response is much more helpful customer service.

To write helpful microcopy, think about the functionality of your product and the larger goals that your user has. The AirBnB product experience has a great example of this (and, not surprisingly, they hire UX writers).

In the search bar of the AirBnB homepage, they have microcopy that asks you the user a question—where are you going?—to help them understand that they should enter the name of a city.

This microcopy is usable, because it reinforces the fact that you can search; but it’s also helpful, because it gives you an example of what you might search for. Instead of just saying, “search here,” they thought about what you might be trying to do (plan a trip), and suggest you start by searching the name of your destination.

3. Accessible

Accessible microcopy means that your interface can be used or accessed by people with disabilities. First, know that accessible interfaces actually benefit everyone, with or without disabilities, because it means your interface is even easier to use. Second, know that “people with disabilities” is actually a lot of people. Many business leaders assume that accessibility only matters to a small percentage of their users, but study after study proves that people’s abilities fall on a wide spectrum — and the majority of adult web users can benefit from accessible technology. Just check out this accessibility study from Microsoft.

So how do you write accessible microcopy? That could be it’s own blog post, but here are just a few best practices.

• Include alternate text for images and icons
• Include captions and transcript for audio
• Prioritize being clear over being clever
• Structure content so it’s scannable, and the important info is in headers and subheads
• Write clear, understandable links and button text

For more about accessibility, check out these 7 guidelines for writing accessible microcopy, and our guide on web content accessibility.

4. Clear

Marketing copywriters often prioritize clever, punchy copy to grab people’s attention. Microcopy writers prioritize clarity. If something isn’t clear, it can’t also be usable, helpful, or accessible.

Continuously ask things like:

• Would this be clear to the oldest and youngest people in my user base?
• Would this be clear if they only read it once, and read it quickly?
• Would this be clear if someone was stressed and busy?
• Would this be clear if someone had never used my interface before?

5. Appropriate

Good microcopy is appropriate and adaptive to the specific situation or environment it exists in. It adapts to the needs of the user as those needs change throughout the experience. The meaning of the words, the tone, and the length should all adapt to the situation in order to be appropriate.

For example, we often just think of microcopy as being “short.” But sometimes, using 3 words is actually less appropriate than using 10 words. It depends on the context and the user needs.

Also, while brand voice and personality in microcopy is a popular topic, but a big part of brand voice is tone — which is how the voice adapts to different contexts. Your tone should be different for a confirmation message versus an error message to be appropriate.

How to make your microcopy more appropriate:

• Deeply understand your users, the scenarios and environments they’ll be in, and how the interface functions
• Conduct smart copy testing, like running usability tests and doing field research to accounts for varying situations and environments
• In your team’s design process, start with user needs first. Then create copy and design around those needs. It’s harder to be appropriate retroactively.

6. Seamless

What we mean by seamless is, seamlessly integrated with design. (If you can think of a better one-word title for this principle, let us know!)

Your copy and design should make sense together and support each other. The best case scenario when you have mismatched words and visuals is that you missed an opportunity to deliver a great experience. The worst case scenario is that you confuse the heck out of your users.

How to integrate copy with design:

• Get writers and designers working together early-on in the process
• Avoid using “lorem ipsum” text in the design process. “Lorem ipsum” is meaningless placeholder text that can lead designers in the wrong direction and cause unnecessary rounds of revision later on.
• Think about the user need first, then figure out how design and copy can meet that need together

Note: seamless does not mean frictionless. Sometimes, friction can be used intentionally to help users avoid errors, or guide them into better user paths. Credit to Laura Luck for putting this into words perfectly via this Instagram post about purposeful friction.

7. Branded

Just like good design, good microcopy should feel like it’s part of the same brand. It would be weird if your bank’s mobile app had a different logo in the app versus the website, right? Right. So we don’t want to confuse people with inconsistent, off-brand microcopy either.

Write consistent, branded microcopy by:

• Creating a content style guide that defines your brand voice, tone, editorial style, and messaging
• Create a microcopy pattern library with commonly used words and phrases. For example, will your interface say sign in, or log in? Pick one and stick to it, and document that kind of decision for your team.

Above all else, your UX writing should be user-centered. Otherwise, it’s not really UX writing work.

If your working process and approach to creating microcopy isn’t user-centered, then… well, what you’re doing isn’t really UX writing. You can’t have UX writing without the UX part.

For more on writing user-centered content, check out some of our in-depth guides:

• The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Microcopy
• Writing for Web Accessibility
• The Writer’s Guide to User Interviews

If you need a UX writing agency or UX writer to partner with, please reach out to schedule a call with us. We’d love to help you plan and write microcopy that works. You can also learn more about our UX writing services here.

Thanks for reading!

Originally published at https://www.avoagency.com on August 6, 2020.

7 Principles of Good UX Writing was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

UX writing is booming these days. Companies like Google, Dropbox, Nordstrom and other giants always seem to be hiring more UX writers, and even startups are following suit. Although the scope of the job often varies by company, one thing is clear: UX writing is not going anywhere.

As it’s a fairly new field, I’m often asked by budding UX writers about how they can break into the field. The shortest answer to that question is to learn about user-centered design; the long answer to that question is what follows in this article.

If you need a refresher first, you can read our article on What is UX writing?

Once you’ve spent some time learning about UX writing and practicing on your own, you might want to get paid for it. Fortunately, there are opportunities out there for skilled UX writers at all levels if you know where to look and how to apply.

The difference between copywriting and UX writing

First, it’s help to understand the big differences between UX writing and traditional copywriting.

UX writers focus on usability

The copywriter’s goal is primarily to sell, or “convert.” They aim to be engaging, so that they can capture someone’s attention and move them through the buyers journey.

UX writers, on the other hand, care about making an interface more usable. They aim to guide a user through a product experience with words that are easy to understand, accessible, and helpful to the end user.

UX writing is often invisible

One of my favorite articles on UX writing is this one: Invisible copy, remarkable experiences, by Elton Gutoch.

That article does a great job of explaining how the best UX writing is often the kind that goes unnoticed, because it is so well crafted that users intuitively understand it without realizing it’s there.

Marketing copy, on the other hand, seeks to stand out. It wants to catch your eye, make you curious, and get you to feel something so that you’re compelled to buy. Even though copywriting and UX writing both deal in words, they’re still distinctly different.

How to learn UX writing

Become a microcopy connoisseur

You probably encounter words written by UX writers all the time without even realizing it (again, because it’s kind of invisible). One easy way to start learning about UX writing is to simply notice that it’s there.

The next time you’re using an app, digital product, or other random type of interface (even the check-in kiosk at the airport), notice the microcopy — the words and small phrases that guide you through the product.

Ask yourself questions like:

• Are these words helpful? Did they help me do something in this interface easily? Why is that?
• Were these words easy to understand without thinking? Why or why not?
• Could I replace these words with different ones? How would that change my experience?
• How do these words work with the visual design? What do I notice?

As you start this practice, you’ll realize that microcopy is everywhere. When you order dinner on Postmates, get updates about your Uber trip, or sign-in to Slack, you’ve consumed the work of a UX writer.

Read about user-centered design

If you’re transitioning from a marketing or copywriting role, learning the words part of UX writing will come fairly easily. What’s more important to focus on is understanding user-centered design.

Knowledge in this area is the key difference between a UX writer and a copywriter. The UX writer must have an understanding user-centered design, usability, and accessibility. In fact, many UX writers think of themselves as experience designers.

UX writers will also work a lot more closely with UX and UI designers, and developers and engineers, so it’s important that you’re all able to understand each other. Learn their language, and your work together will be far easier.

Online UX resources:

• Nielsen Norman Group articles
• UX Booth articles
• User-Centered Design: An Introduction by Ekaterina Novoseltseva
• Interaction Design Foundation Literature

You can also choose from a variety of bootcamps, courses, and programs for UX Design if you prefer more accountability. The downside of these courses for UX writers is that they don’t usually offer any specific UX writing training, and they can be a hefty investment.

Read about UX writing

In addition to UX-focused resources, there are a growing number of UX writing-specific resources and books available now.

UX writing resources:

• Microcopy: The Complete Guide by Kinneret Yifrah
• Strategic Writing for UX by Torrey Podmajersky
• Writing for Designers by Scott Kubie
• A mega list of UX writing resources by Katherine Bradshaw-Jones

The UX Writing Library is a new and incredible resource for all things UX writing. Created by author and UX writer Kinneret Yifrah, it has just about everything you need. I’m so thrilled she has put this together for all of us.

Hone your skills with spec-work

You don’t need permission to become a UX writer. You can write microcopy for anything you want, any time. (You won’t get paid for it, but that’s not the point).

There is no better way to learn UX writing than by writing for user experiences.

Get practice by re-writing copy in any experiences that you feel could be improved. Then, ask other people for feedback.

Notice a clunky CTA in your favorite app, or spot an awkward push notification? Rewrite them! This is a great way to hone your skills with the resources you already have available.

Take a UX writing course online

If you prefer structured learning, there are a few online courses available today for UX writing.

• UX Writing Hub offers a free introductory course, and an in-depth paid group program.
• UX Writers Collective has courses on UX Writing Fundamentals, Content Research & Testing, and CX Writing.

How to get hired as a UX writer

Once you‘ve spent some time learning about UX writing and practicing on your own, you might want to get paid for it. Fortunately, there are opportunities out there for skilled UX writers at all levels if you know where to look and how to apply.

Create a UX writing portfolio

Whether you’re looking for a freelance gig or full-time position, you’re going to need a portfolio. This offers potential employers tangible proof that you can do the work-or that you at least understand the basics and are ready for mentorship.

Creating your portfolio is an opportunity to practice user-centered design. Think about the users of your portfolio. Most likely, they are hiring managers or business owners who are busy and overwhelmed with choices.

With that in mind, you’ll want to keep your portfolio scannableand easy to understand. Your portfolio should help your user accomplish their goal, which is to quickly assess your skills and experience.

What to include in a UX writing portfolio:

• Brief summary of your hard and soft skills
• Brief summary of your UX writing process
• 2–3 case studies of your work

A summary of your skills should tell the reader what you can do for them. Try to highlight anything that might differentiate you from other UX writers. Do you have a background in marketing? Great, say that you’re a UX writer who also understands conversion optimization. Are you a former engineer? That’s an asset, too. Figure out what you bring to the table that’s unique to you and relevant to the reader.

Explaining your process matters because it proves that you are adaptable and can solve problems. Hiring managers want to know that if they give you a project or challenge, you know what steps to take to figure out that challenge. This might sound something like: discovery, research, strategy, writing, testing.

Finally, UX writing case studies are the key to a standout portfolio. A case study is like a short story of a previous project you’ve done. Briefly explain what the project was, how you tackled it, and what the outcome was — showing your work along the way.

The biggest mistake I see in UX writing portfolios is when a writer has thrown up screenshots of their work… with no context. How do I know whether or not your work was successful if I don’t know what the purpose of the project was? Case studies provide that context.

Need more help? Check out these resources:

• Best UX Writing Portfolios by Yuval Keshtcher
• How to create a UX writing portfolio by Andrea Drugay

Practice pitching the value of UX writing

As you look for jobs or projects as a UX writer, it’s also worth practicing an “elevator pitch” about what UX writing is and why it matters.

During the interview process for a full-time role, you might talk to multiple people within an organization who have varying levels of understanding about what UX writing is and why it matters. Being able to pitch your work can make you a standout candidate.

As a freelance UX writer, you’ll have to pitch the value of your work even more. Even clients who are looking for a UX writer may not fully understand what you can do, what type of support or resources you’ll need, or how much to include you in the design process (hint: a lot).

Join local and online UX writing communities

The UX writing community may be new, but it’s growing fast and incredibly supportive. If you ever have questions about your work, want to keep an eye out for job postings, or just want to commiserate, community is the answer.

Online communities for UX writers:

• Microcopy & UX Writing Facebook group
• Content Strategists Facebook group
• Content + UX Slack group

That’s all! Thanks for reading.

Have a question about UX writing? Leave a comment, or reach out to us.

Originally published at https://www.avoagency.com on November 22, 2019.

How to Get Started in UX Writing was originally published in Muzli - Design Inspiration on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Interviews can give writers valuable insights — but only when they’re done well. If you’re new to conducting interviews or want to brush up your skills, here are some best practices and tips on conducting your best interview yet.

What are user and stakeholder interviews?

User interviews are guided conversations between you and a real user/customer. You’ll ask them focused yet open-ended questions and listen to their answers.

Stakeholder interviews are guided conversation with someone who works at the company you are serving. Stakeholders are people who will have an opinion about the content you write, who will provide feedback, or people in the company who are experts in the topic you’re writing about.

Interviews are typically either 30 minutes or 60 minutes long. Any shorter and it’s hard to get valuable information. Any longer and people lose focus.

What do you need to conduct an interview?

You’ll need a researcher (you), a note taker, and a participant. You’ll also need to define your research goals ahead of time, so that you know what you’re trying to learn. Then, you’ll need to craft some great interview questions to ask them.

The importance of a note-taker

Although it’s technically possible to conduct an interview without one, having someone to take notes can make a world of difference. If you take notes, it’s a distraction to both you and the person you’re interviewing. If you just record or transcribe your interview, you’re creating more work for yourself later. More importantly, a note-taker can jot down things they notice, like a change in someone’s tone of voice.

Remote or in-person?

You can conduct a successful user interview either remote or face-to-face. There are pros and cons to both, and none of them make a big impact on the overall outcome. In any group, you’ll likely get some participants who are more talkative on the phone and some who prefer being in person. It all events out in the end.

To run a remote interview, you can use video conferencing tools like Zoom or Skype. These are nice because they allow for screen-sharing if you need it, and they can also record the call.

How many interviews should you do?

There’s no industry consensus on this. Generally, most researchers find that they get what they need after somewhere between 6–12 interviews. Personally, I’ve found that after 5 or 6, you just start hearing the same things over and over.

If you’re not sure how many to do, I would start with 5 and then see how you feel. One other thing to consider is that if you have a few different user groups that are very different from each other, you might want to do 5 for each group.

When and why to conduct interviews

Even if your interviewing skills are great, it won’t matter if you’re doing interviews for the wrong reasons at the wrong time.

✅ Do use interviews to learn how people think and feel

Conversations are one of the best ways to learn about emotions, how people think, and how they describe things. All of those things are incredibly valuable to a writer.

People are great at sharing their opinions, thoughts, and feelings.

As we’ll explore later, people aren’t great at answering every type of question. But you can prompt people to think out loud and share their opinions. Questions like, “How does this problem affect your life?” are great, because they are open ended and subjective.

✅ Do use interviews to hear how people talk

As a writer, you know that words matter. And you also know that sometimes, people use words to mean different things. Interviews are a great opportunity to hear what words people use to describe certain problems or activities. You can then mirror their own words in your writing so that the way you write is easier for them to understand.

❌ Don’t use interviews to validate an idea

User interviews are a great discovery tool. They help you better understand the problem and situation at hand so that you can craft a solution. What they can not do is definitively tell you whether an idea you have is good or bad because users cannot predict the future.

People are bad at predicting their own behavior.

For example, if you ask someone, “Here’s our product idea. Would you use it?” There is a really good chance they will say “yes” and then never use your product. Most humans are people pleasers, especially in an interview setting.

❌ Don’t replace usability tests with interviews

Similarly, people also aren’t good at remembering their past behavior with complete accuracy. Asking questions like, “the last time you went to a new restaurant, did you visit the website first?” They probably don’t remember… because who remembers that kind of stuff anyway?

People are bad at remembering past behavior.

If you really want to know how people behave, you’re better off doing ethnographic research — which is a fancy way of saying you should observe people in the wild. Learn more about ethnography here.

❌ Don’t use interviews to collect data

If you need to definitively prove something to a client, you’re better off using a quantitative method instead, like a user survey. Before jumping into a round of interviews, think about what your research questions are and what type of answers you’re looking for. If you need numbers and data, interviews are not the answer.

Knowing this can also help you ask the right questions. For example, don’t ask people to measure anything in an interview. For example, “How many times a day are you on Facebook?” The truth is, they probably have no idea and will just guess.

Here’s more information about how and when to do user interviews.

How to craft great user interview questions

One of the biggest questions people have about interviews is how to ask the right questions.

The first step is sitting down and figuring out what you are trying to learn. Interviews are a research tool, and you need to think like a researcher. What exactly are you hoping to learn?

Write down all of your research goals first.

Once you know what you’re trying to learn, sort through your goals and figure out which ones can actually be accomplished in an interview (see the previous section). Then take that list of narrowed-down research goals and turn them into questions.

Start broad, then get specific

Ask your broadest questions first. For example, if you’re trying to understand how someone uses a product, you can ask “Tell me about why you use the product.” Then you can narrow down to, “What is your favorite feature to use?” and things like “what features do you find difficult to use?”

Avoid “yes or no” questions

The goal in interviews is to get someone talking openly. A question that could be answered with a “yes” or a “no” will cut conversations short and you’ll miss out no great insights. Keep things open ended, like “What do you think about…” Or, “When you do XYZ, what is your process…?”

Plan your follow-up questions

Instead of writing a numbered list of questions, think about initial prompts and follow up questions. How can you get someone talking or thinking about a particular thing? Then, how can you get them to dig deeper and share more?

For more tips on how to plan and run great interviews, read 6 Tips for Better User Interviews.

Success is in the research synthesis

The most important part of any user research activity is in the research synthesis. It’s being able to look at all the research you’ve done and make sense of it all. The goal is to find overarching themes that you can use to guide your writing work and report back to the rest of your team.

One of the fastest and most effective ways to do this is through card-sorting, which is a fancy way of saying that you get to play with sticky notes.

Card-sorting to find interview insights

This is what it sounds like. Look back at your notes (which should be great, because you had a note-taker!) and start writing down anything important on a sticky note. Don’t worry about doing this in any particular order, just write anything relevant on a sticky note.

Then, start putting your sticky notes into groups (we’ll talk about what kind of groups in a second). You can use a big empty wall, a white board, or get poster boards.

Poster boards can be really nice if you work in an office, and might want to move your workstation.

There are a few approaches you can take when it comes to grouping things together. It all comes back to your research goals.

Group insights by user needs, goals, pain points, or tasks

A great way to start is by grouping together categories of user behavior.

• Needs: “I’m not good at tech, I need things to be simple”
• Goals: “I want my emails to be more organized”
• Tasks: “I need to update my notification settings”
• Pain points: “It’s really hard/frustrating when…”

Once you have things grouped into larger, behavioral categories, you can start to find key themes within each one. You can also have a bit of fun with it, and try different ways and patterns for grouping. Once, I grouped things in a circle because it helped our team visualize how many themes were overlapping.

Look for duplicate sticky-notes and find themes

Within those groups, look for themes by finding sticky notes that basically say the same thing. The more people you have saying the same thing, the more important that theme is.

For example, if you had one person say “My profile is hard to update,” and another person said, “I just want to update my email in my profile,” the larger theme might be “Updating profile issues.” And if nearly every user said something about this, that’s a very important theme.

Create a “word bank”

If you have great notes, you probably also have plenty of direct quotes to look at. Try to find patterns in the word choices people use and create a list of them. Those are words you can use in your writing to make your content more relatable.

Presenting your research summary to others

So you’ve done your interviews and found some key themes, and feel more informed about your audience. You could just go off and get writing, but I think that’s a missed opportunity. (Also, most employers or freelance clients will want o see the fruits of your labor anyway). So how do you present research findings?

1. Create a deck and keep it short

I prefer decks over documents because people tend to pay more attention to them, but it’s up to you. You just want some kind of summary of your work. Here’s a basic outline.

1. What we did: who you interviewed, how many interviews you did, and the kinds of questions you asked. Link to your questions doc.
2. Key themes: the key insights you found. It’s also nice to include a direct quote from an interview to illustrate each theme.
3. Next steps: what happens now? How will your research be used? Make the reader feel like your research was valuable by listing a few ways you’ll be taking action.

Final takeaways

User interviews are a qualitative research method that can be extremely valuable to content projects. If nothing else, remember these 3 things:

1. Figure out your research goals first
2. Ask thoughtful user interview questions
3. Spend time synthesizing your research to make the most of it

Happy interviewing!

Thanks for reading 👋

This article was originally published on the AVO agency blog.

Hey friend. I’m Veronica Cámara, Principal Content Strategist at AVO agency, a human-centered content company. If you need help with your content, I would love to speak with you! Contact me here, or connect on LinkedIn.

The Writer’s Guide to User Interviews was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Web content isn’t human-centered if not all humans can easily understand it. It potentially leaves tons of money on the table for businesses, too. Writing more accessible, inclusive content, is a simple way to improve your website so that it reaches and resonates with all your users instead of a select group. Here are some practical tips for writing more accessible web content.

What is accessibility and why does it matter?

Accessibility refers to how easy it is for people with disabilities to use your website, product, or other type of interface. Think of accessibility as ease of use. The easier it is for all humans to use your website (regardless of their abilities), the more accessible your website is.

Accessibility matters because people matter.

Web accessibility matters for both practical and ethical reasons. On the practical side, an inaccessible website means that users with disabilities can’t buy your product or service. Less money and customers for your business. On the ethical side, having an accessible website is just the nice-human thing to do. Why should someone be excluded from your website just because they are differently abled? There’s no good reason for it — especially since accessibility isn’t hard to accomplish once you understand it.

Web accessibility and the law

There are no specific web accessibility laws in the United States for non-government websites. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) generally protects people’s rights to access public business spaces. In fact, a 2019 accessibility suit against Domino’s Pizza, the court ultimately ruled in favor of the defendant. It’s best to avoid any legal hassles by making sure all your digital experiences are accessible to everyone. Even Beyoncé is not above accessibility, and that’s saying something.

“For more information, click the red button.”

“To get started on the above, click below!”

“For help, click the icon in the bottom right corner.”

Those are all real sentences I’ve read on websites. Cringe. Imagine if you are color blind or using a screen reader — those sentences would be so frustrating or entirely meaningless. Try not to use language that assumes all your users have the same abilities.

Understanding assistive technology

The first thing you should understand is that people with disabilities use assistive technology to help them use the web. For visually impaired users, that’s mainly screen readers, which either translate text into brail or read it as audio. For hearing impaired users, having accurate captions and transcriptions are really important.

The second thing should know is that users with disabilities are not much different than any other user: they still want to skim or quickly scan a web page to find useful information quickly. People using screen readers simply scan in a different way. Screen readers allow people to “tab” through headers and subheads, and any clickable links. That’s why we’re starting with headers, CTAs, and hyperlinks when it comes to writing for accessibility.

Headers and subheads

Headers and subheads, since they may be read on their own by someone skimming, should make sense individually and as a series. Having clear, meaningful headers and subheads helps people get a quick understanding of the content, and guides them to sections they may want to read in full.

As tempting as it may be, try not to use your headers and subheads with vague marketing-speak. A section header like “Choose your own adventure!” is cute, but not as clear or helpful as, “What we offer.”

Hyperlinks and button text

Similarly, hyperlinks and buttons should make sense when read on their own (without any supporting copy or images around them). Imagine if someone only read the hyperlinks and CTAs on your web page: would the user know what to click on?

Cutesy, vague hyperlinks and buttons are one of the most common accessibility issues we see in web content. It’s so tempting for writers to get creative with button text, but it’s really tough for users reading screen readers. Again, ask yourself: if someone only read this text, would it make senses? If the answer is no, then you need to change it.

I don’t want to call out any specific websites, but here are some real world examples of button-text on services pages that are not accessible:

• “Just click here!” — takes the user to a form.
• “OOH, gimme!” — takes the user to a checkout page.
• “Yes please!” — takes the user to a contact page.

Imagine if someone read a series of hyperlinks and buttons like that, and how frustrating that would be.

Helpful button text is empathy for the user in practice.

Repetitive hyperlinks and button text is also a common issue. For example, an FAQ page that links to helpful resources — but all the hyperlinks say “learn more.” If a blind user with a screen reader scans your page, how are they going to know which one to click on if they all say the same thing? They won’t.

Solution: write buttons and hyperlinks that tell the user what they can expect if they click on it.

Alternate text for images

Alternate text, also called ALT text, is how screen readers give users information about images they can’t see. As a best practice, any image that contains crucial information should have ALT text.

If the image is just pretty and doesn’t actually add any value to the content, it may actually be more useful not to write ALT text. For a more in-depth explanation of this, read 7 guidelines for writing accessible microcopy.

When you do write ALT text, don’t write “image of…” at the beginning of each sentence. The screen reader will have already communicated to the user that it’s an image, so it’s just unnecessary. Do try to explain why the image matters. If it’s a complex chart or graph, try to summarize the point it illustrates.

One common issue with ALT text is keyword-stuffing. This is when a writer has some understanding of ALT text, but doesn’t quite understand accessibility. Instead of writing a meaningful description, they just list a series of keywords like: “guidelines alt text content tips tricks guidelines accessibility.” That sentence obviously has some keywords, but doesn’t make sense or add any value. If you’re going to use a keyword, do so in a sentence that means something helpful and appropriate.

Plain language, jargon, idioms, and more

Use plain language, and avoid idioms and jargon at all costs. When you do use acronyms or jargon, make sure you explain them first.

Writing in“plain language” means using simple sentence structure and commonly understood words. It’s not about talking down to your reader, it’s just about making things easier for them. Even people who do understand complex language don’t always want to read it. Plain language makes things easier for everyone.

Idioms, jargon, metaphors, and smilies are problematic for global audiences, users with lower literacy levels, or users who speak english as a second language. That’s a lot of people that are potentially left out or confused by your content, so just avoid them altogether.

Contrast for text and the background

Without enough contrast between text and the background it’s on, users with low vision or color blindness will struggle to read the text. This could be text on top a solid background that is too close to the color of the text, or just an image that has light and dark areas. There are plenty of online “contrast checkers” on the internet, but the best and easiest way to check your contrast is by squinting/blurring your own eyes. If you can’t read the text easily when you’re squinting, try to fix it.

Descriptive, directional language

“For more information, click the red button.”

“To get started on the above, click below!”

“For help, click the icon in the bottom right corner.”

Those are all real sentences I’ve read on websites. Cringe. Imagine if you are color blind or using a screen reader — those sentences would be so frustrating or entirely meaningless. Try not to use language that assumes all your users have the same abilities.

Transcriptions and captions for audio

Any video or audio on a website should have captions and a full-transcript to be accessible. This isn’t a writing tip, but it is a good rule for accessibility that writers can play a part in. For users who are hearing impaired, it’s essential to include these in order to be accessible and human-centered.

Most video hosting platforms, like YouTube, offer auto-generated captions to make this even easier to do. If you don’t have the time or resources to have someone write captions, this is better than nothing. Whenever possible, though, have a real human create the captions. Auto-generated versions can easily miss things or mix-up words that sound similar, which is not a great experience.

Gendered language

“Shopping for Valentine’s Day? Buy her something special!” But what if you’re a man whose partner is a man?

“Plan the perfect proposal: ways to WOW her.” But what if you’re a woman who wants to propose yourself?

“Select your gender: man, woman.” But what if you are neither?

No two humans are the same. If we truly want our websites and digital experiences to be accessible, they also need to be inclusive. We need to stop making big assumptions about people’s gender or sexual orientation when we write for the web. It’s 2019, and it’s time we stop. Ethics and beliefs aside, there’s usually not a valid reason to use gendered language anyways.

The next time you catch yourself or another writer using gendered language, try asking “why.” Does it need to be gendered? Is there something specific gained? If we remove the gendered language, do we lose anything? In most cases, it’s just not needed.

For more about inclusive interfaces, please read Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech by Sara Wachter-Boettcher. It’s an incredible book that offers a deeper explanation of the problem and more solutions.

Final tips and takeaways

If nothing else, you should know that accessibility benefits everyone. The more accessible your web content is, the easier and better it is for everyone. So even if you feel like users with disabilities are a small part of your audience, there’s still a large benefit to following accessibility best practices for your content.

Recap:

• Accessibility matters, and content plays a big role.
• Any writer can contribute to improving accessibility.
• Write clear, useful hyperlinks, buttons, headers, and subheads
• Include helpful alternate text when it adds value.
• Use plain language and avoid jargon.
• Don’t assume your reader can see or hear perfectly.
• Don’t make assumptions about gender, either.

We hope this was useful! If you need a partner to help make your web content more accessible, please reach out on our contact page.

Originally published at https://www.avoagency.com on May 2, 2019.

Writing for Web Accessibility was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Why I’m using the term, a flexible content approach you can steal, and some guiding principles for great content

“Human-centered design is a creative approach to problem solving […] It’s a process that starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs.”

— IDEO

Human-Centered Design (HCD) has been a buzzword in the design community for years. In short, HCD is a mindset anyone can adopt to solve problems and find solutions that meet human needs. In practice, it often starts with a hypothesis about a problem or challenge, and is followed by research to investigate that hypothesis — similar to the scientific method taught in elementary schools.

Today, Human-Centered Design is commonly applied to solve design challenges for mobile applications, websites, and services. I like to think of it as a “people first” design process. The opposite would be a “solutions first” process.

Human-Centered Design example:

“We hypothesize that low-income families struggle to find healthy, affordable food available in their local grocery store. How can we help them?”

Solutions-first design example:

“Let’s create a grocery shopping app.”

The human-centered approach is far more likely to become a successful solution, for what I hope is obvious reasons. When you start with solutions, you miss out on crucial insights that could help you decide what features to create in a product, what the visual look and feel should be, and how to shape the voice of the brand so that it all appeals to the target audience.

Content and the Human-Centered Design process

When I first left my corporate job to start a consulting business, I found myself having to explain exactly what I meant by terms like “content strategy” and “content design.”

After some guidance from a brilliant business strategist, I started to use my process as a way to explain my work.

“I start with user research,” I’d say, “to uncover what needs, goals, and questions your audience has. Then, I use those insights to create a master plan for all your content and define things like your messaging strategy and website architecture. This process aligns content with real user needs so you can easily achieve your business goals.”

After many of these conversations, I started hearing the same feedback from potential clients and peers.

“That sounds like UX Design… but for content.”

“Hmm, so… Your process uses Design Thinking.”

“I get it! It’s like Human-Centered Design.”

Bingo.

Applying HCD to content: a process to follow

Since those early days, I’ve leaned in to the idea that my work as a content strategist or content designer is really just applying HCD to content.

Thinking in terms of “human-centered content” has solved a lot of challenges for me when it comes to defining my work — or at least, my version of content strategy and content design.

I realized that yes, it’s basically a blend of the Design Thinking process and the Human-Centered Design process with a content-edge. I empathize with users first, make sense of the research, create a plan, prototype the content, then test and improve if I can.

What I love about framing my work in terms of a design process is that is overcomes a lot of misconceptions. Content strategy is not a deliverable. It’s not a “phase” in a project. It’s not a document. It’s a flexible process to solve content challenges that puts human needs at the forefront.

The solutions first approach to content is designing a wireframe for a website, then “dropping in” content later. The human-centered approach starts starts by doing research about what content people need and want, then designs a wireframe around that content.

If you have content challenges to solve, here are a few principles I’ve defined in the last few years as central components to human-centered content.

Three Principles of Human-Centered Content

So, what really makes content human-centered? Aside from following a human-centered process, I like to evaluate the success (or “human-centered-ness”) of content in a three key ways. I think of these as more like guiding principles rather than a checklist.

1. Human-centered content supports user questions and tasks

Human-centered content prioritizes user questions and tasks, because those are the main reasons why someone will use an interface.

Whether it’s a website, an app, an internal web portal, people mainly care about themselves — not your business. You can be human-centered by prioritizing content that answers their questions or supports their tasks.

Examples of user questions:

• What does your business do?
• Is your business close to my house?
• What are your business hours?
• What is on your menu?
• How can you help me?

Examples of user tasks:

• I need to update my mailing address at my bank
• I need to schedule an appointment
• I need to create a new profile for my employee
• I need to send someone a document to e-sign

2. Human-centered content is relevant to the user

Outside of questions and tasks, all content should still be created through the lens of, “how can we make this relevant to our user?”

Consider a company About Page, for example. Lots of businesses love to talk about their company’s origin story, the awards they have achieved, their certifications, etc. Chances are, if someone is looking for a new insurance company, they don’t care much about industry certifications they have never heard of.

If you must include content on your website that is not directly answering a question or supporting a user task, find a way to put a user-centered spin on it. Don’t just tell the user you have a certification. Tell them why they should care and how it helps them.

Relevant content is also:

• In a voice and tone the user will enjoy
• In a format the user will expect and understand

3. Human-centered content is accessible and inclusive

Humans are not all the same. As much as we all love personas, they will never represent every single person who sees your content.

Again: humans are not all the same.

Some humans won’t be able to hear the audio on your videos. Other humans might not be able to see the screen, and use things like screen readers to help them. There’s a great wide spectrum of human capabilities out there, and they are all equally wonderful.

To be truly human-centered, your content needs to be, at minimum, accessible to all humans. In other words, they should be able to access and understand the information in some way regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities. At best, human-centered content is inclusive and welcoming.

To make your content more accessible:

• Use alternate text for images
• Use captions and transcripts for videos
• Prioritize important information in headings and subheads
• Avoid jargon, acronyms, and complex sentences
• Write descriptive and specific Call-to-Action copy (example: instead of “read more” you can say “read about accessibility”)

For more on content accessibility, check out the Readability Guidelines by Content Design London. For more on web accessibility, read Introduction to Web Accessibility and this guide to writing for web accessibility. Also, see 7 Guidelines for Writing Accessible Microcopy.

To make your content more inclusive:

• Avoid gendered language when it’s not needed
• Asking for gender or race in a form? Explain why and include write-in options
• Avoid phrases and idioms that won’t translate well if your audience speaks English as a second language

Problems with this terminology and other final thoughts

To wrap things up, those are my thoughts now on how we can apply HCD to content and think about content in human-centered terms. But like anything else, it’s not perfect.

For one, I’ve kind of meshed and merged “Design Thinking” and “HCD” together in this article and in my own brain. Some people might not like that, and that’s fair. I also know that the term “user-centered” might make more sense to some people.

To zoom out a bit, we’ve also got lots of confusing terms in the content industry already. Introducing “human-centered content” as a new term could just mix things up even more. That’s also fair.

All that said, I’ve personally found it to be a nice way to explain my work and think about my own process. Perhaps for some of you out there will find it useful too.

Leave your thoughts or questions in the comments below.

👋 Thanks for reading!

I’m Veronica. I help enterprises and startups solve content challenges. Find more of my articles on my website. If you have a project or question, email me at: veronica@avoagency.com

What is human-centered content? was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In theory, getting stakeholder feedback on content is great. You can get advice from people who have valuable insights and who care about the outcome.

But when stakeholder feedback goes wrong, your carefully crafted content can become… kind of a mess. Work gets passed around from stakeholder to stakeholder, subjected to countless rounds of revision, and finally makes everyone happy—except your end user.

I personally call this “Frankenstein content,” because the end result is content that feels like a mad scientist stitched a bunch of things together. Plus, it’s fun to say.

When too many stakeholders make content changes, user needs get lost. The result is content that is awkwardly stitched together.

Unfortunately, it’s a common problem at large organizations. Content strategists and writers have to juggle business goals, brand and technology constraints, and stakeholder opinions, then somehow end up with content that is useful to real humans. It can seem impossible at worst and frustrating at best.

So what’s the secret to avoiding clunky, Frankenstein-y content? In my experience, getting great content feedback all starts before a first draft is ever created.

This article will cover the three steps you can take before a first draft of copy is written so you can deliver better content to your end users.

1. Gather your stakeholders and get have a content kick-off meeting

This step might sound like a no-brainer, but properly aligning on content goals can be harder than it sounds. In an agency or enterprise setting, projects often start with a project brief and an overall project kick-off meeting. And then that’s pretty much it.

Instead, have a separate kick-off meeting just for content.

The meeting should include anyone who plans to give feedback on the content, and will align on:

• Business goals
• User needs
• Source material
• Key messages

Especially when there are going to be a lot of stakeholders involved, going this extra mile to get alignment can make a big difference.

It also helps prevent copy docs from getting passed around to new stakeholders who weren’t involved in initial conversations. For example, a product manager receives the copy doc, think “I wonder what Bob in PR thinks of this,” and sends it to someone who has zero context for the project.

And chaos ensues for the content team.

Instead, you need to make it a hard-and-fast rule in the beginning that anyone who plans to provide feedback has to be involved in the beginning.

Make it a rule that anyone who plans to provide feedback on content needs participate in a kick-off conversation about content goals.

Another tip? Don’t include more people than you need to.

Try to limit the amount of stakeholders to the most essential people.

The difference between 3 stakeholders and 6 can be huge.

Kick-off meetings are not a magic solution, but it helps a lot. Plus, if you get feedback later on from someone who wasn’t in the meeting, it’s easier to (gently) tell them that they can’t participate.

You should also create a plan for which stakeholder will provide what type of feedback.

2. Guide each stakeholder to provide the right kind of feedback

There is nothing worse than opening up a copy doc to find a ton of copywriting suggestions from non-copywriters. Stakeholders sometimes give feedback on specific word choices, or even rewrite sentences based on personal preference. Writers, you know what I mean.

But when you give each stakeholder a specific job, everybody wins. It makes each stakeholder feel like they have a unique and important job to do, and you are more likely to get feedback that is relevant and helpful.

Examples: a product manager’s special job can be providing feedback on product descriptions. Your marketing analytics stakeholder can offer suggestions on calls-to-action, since they might have insight on words that perform best.

Stakeholders need guidance and direction.

A content strategist, project manager, or account manager can set expectations with each stakeholder in the initial content kick-off, and reiterate the stakeholder’s job when the time comes for feedback.

3. And finally… Page tables! Your new secret weapon

Before I dive in: page tables go by many names. I’ve also heard these referred to as content templates, content outlines, content guides, content priority guides, content schemas, and most recently “content blocking diagrams.”

Call it whatever you’d like, but you should use it.

A page table is a high-level roadmap that plans each section of content on a page before it is written.

There are many ways to do them, but here’s a short list of things to include in the beginning of your document:

• Page title
• Business goal (what do you want people to do?)
• User goal (what does your user want to do/learn here?)
• Date last updated

You might also include things like:

• SEO keywords
• URL
• Meta-description

After that, you’ll have a two-column table. On the left side is label for the content element, and the right side is a description of the content. Here’s an example of a page table for content projects.

Content page table template ⬇️

Above is my page table template in a Google doc. For a website project, I would create a new document for each page. Obviously, you’ll need to customize the template for your own project, but it’s a flexible idea that can be used in many different ways.

The benefits of creating your page table in word is that it’s easy to read, whereas an excel spreadsheet tends to make people’s eyes glaze over.

However, spreadsheets can be useful if you want to be more detailed.

In a spreadsheet, you can easily add more columns for added detail like character counts, meta-tags, and more. You’re less restricted in a spreadsheet, but they can be harder to present (since everyone hates spreadsheets except content strategists). 😉

Why page tables help

As if I haven’t said this phrase enough: stakeholder alignment! If you can get the major players to sign-off on page tables first, it significantly minimizes feedback on actual content.

It also makes it easier for writers to defend their work.

• Stakeholder: “Can we add XYZ information here?”
• Writer: “Nope, that’s not in the page table / that’s off strategy.”

Win. Less back and forth for everyone, and the final piece will stay true to the original goals.

Page tables, when paired with content style guides, give writers a better chance to get aligned with their team. For help with content style guides, read: Create a Killer Content Style Guide.

Over to you now… 👋

With a thoughtful content workflow and simple tools like page tables, it becomes much easier to advocate for the user; and as content and UX people, that’s what we do best.

I hope you found this useful, and I’d love to hear your tips!

Have you dealt with Frankenstein content? Do you have your own silly term for it? Leave your stories in the comments.

Keep reading:

• Create a Killer Content Style Guide
• The Writer’s Guide to User Interviews

P.S. You can find me on Instagram sharing my travels and thoughts about content strategy, or follow me on Medium. If you need help with your content, email me at 📩 veronica@avoagency.com

Fix Your Content Workflow with Page Tables was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you work in user experience or product design, you’ve probably heard of UX writing by now. But chances are, some of what you’ve heard (or thought) about UX writing is wrong — and it’s not just you. The term UX writing is so new that most organizations are still trying to figure out exactly what a UX writer does anyways, and as UX practitioners we are all still learning how to better include writers into the design process.

That said, there are some things about UX writing that are definitely not true. In this post, I’ll debunk some of the most common myths I hear about UX writing and why it matters.

If you’re feeling lost, read this article instead: What is UX Writing?

Myth: UX writers spend all day writing

People often think that a UX writer spends all day writing. That’s a fair assumption considering the job title, but a UX writer does so much more than just write the words.

Reality: UX writers are experience designers too

Just like UX designers don’t spend all day working on visual designs, UX writers don’t spend all day writing. There’s more to UX than just the final outcome.

In fact, what separates UX from other disciplines is the work that happens before anything is made: it’s the human-centered, evidence-gathering work in the beginning that makes interfaces work.

UX writers often assist or even lead things like user research, develop the tone and voice of a brand, test copy, and much more. Just take a look at some of the discussions happening in the Microcopy & UX Writing Facebook group.

Myth: UX writing and content strategy are the same thing

Both UX writers and content strategists are people who understand the content part of design and also work in UX. So… they must be interchangeable, right?

Reality: UX writing and content strategy and different

Although they are related, content strategy and UX writing are different specializations within the larger field of user experience.

UX writer Andrea Drugay summed it up nicely on her blog:

UX writing focuses on the words a person reads or hears when they’re using a product, while content strategy focuses on a broad plan for messaging.

Read her blog post.

That said, sometimes content strategists are actually the same person within an organization — sometimes due to confusion, but mainly because it’s often cheaper or easier to just hire one person. I’ve worked on a handful of app design projects where I would function first as a content strategist, then as UX writer later in the design process. I’ve also been noticing more hybrid job postings lately, with titles like “UX strategist / writer” so the role overlap seems to be widespread.

Myth: fewer words means less time

There’s a common misconception that the number of words someone writes is directly linked to how long it takes to write them.

More words, more time. Less words, less time. Right?

Totally wrong.

Just because the home screen of a mobile app only has 15 words on it does not mean that it will be quick and easy to write. There’s just more to it than that.

Reality: good UX copy takes time

Words within interfaces are often doing a lot of heavy-lifting. They take visual designs and transform them into something a person can use and do things with.

💬 Interface copy needs to tell a user:

• What they can do
• What they can’t do
• How to get help
• What things are
• Where things are

Figuring out how to say things in a short, concise way and say it in a specific brand voice is no simple task. In fact, it takes me more time to write microcopy than it takes me to write long blog posts like this one. Length is a luxury that UX copy doesn’t have.

Myth: designers can write copy

This is a dangerous myth for product teams. People think,

“The design team is creating the UI. They should be able to write the copy.”

Nope. Although design teams do understand user needs and product functionality, that does not mean they are word-people.

Reality: design teams need a dedicated word-person

Words can make or break an interface, and UI designers don’t necessarily have the skills, time or interest to focus on every small word choice within a product interface. A visual designers job is to make sure every pixel is perfect.

Words are an entirely different beast.

While there are certainly some designers out there who are great UX writers, it should never be assumed that a designer can write interface copy. Or that they want to. In fact, most designers I’ve worked with were usually thrilled to pass-off the responsibility of words to a dedicated person.

Let visual designers do their thing. Hire a word person to do the words. Your team, your product, and your end user will all be much happier if you do.

Also, read this: Why your design team should hire a writer.

Myth: all writers can write UX copy

Terms like microcopy and UX copywriting are still so new — and so are the roles that go with them. One of the symptoms of this new-ness is that hiring managers assume all writers are UX writers.

In fact, a lot of people just bundle all writers together into one homogenous group. It’s assumed that if you can write Facebook ads and sales pages, surely you can help me with the words for that app interface.

Reality: writing for interfaces is a specific skill

Someone who specializes in writing sales pages probably isn’t the best writer to help an airline company with the words for their touchscreen check-in kiosk. These are very, very different things.

While marketing copy focuses on selling or enticing someone, UX copy seeks to guide and help a user through an experience.

UX writers have specific skills and knowledge that not all writers have (or need to have). UX writers understand the design process, collaborate well with design teams, love agile environments, and have entirely different goals for their writing than a marketing copywriter does.

Myth: we don’t need a writer until after design

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten an email from a prospective client saying something like this:

“We just got HiFi wireframes for our [interface], so it’s ready for copy. Are you available?”

Cringe!

It could be an app, website, even print flyer — doesn’t matter. There’s a widespread misconception that copy can just be “dropped in” to HiFi designs at the end of the design process.

At the heart of this myth is a deeper, and much more problematic myth: copy and design are different things.

Reality: writers and content people should be involved from the beginning

Writers should be involved from the beginning of the design process, because copy and design are the same thing.

Copy and design are the same thing.

Products and interfaces help people do things, and without words to guide people, products would be virtually useless. Take Lyft as an example, which relies on microcopy to help users create or log-in to their Lyft accounts.

Imagine that Lyft flow without any words.

Copy is design. Writers are experience designers.

That said, you can’t throw in copy at the end of the design process. The copy person should be involved from day one, getting in trenches with the rest of the design team for things like user research or usability testing.

Plus, remember this tweet? Still important. Still applies to any interface. Thank you Zelner.

That’s all! Thanks for reading. 👏

Liked this? Help others see it by clapping, leave some of your own knowledge in the comments, or say hello on Twitter or Instagram.

Keep learning:

• Create a Killer Content Style Guide
• The Writer’s Guide to User Interviews

Also, hi. I help make websites and digital products more useful, intuitive and valuable with human-centered content. If you need a content person on your next project, get in touch here.

Common Myths About UX Writing was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

User interviews help people create better experiences for a target audience by learning about their wants, needs and problems. They’re a common user research method, and when done correctly can bring huge value to your discovery phase.

As a content strategist, I’ve run user interviews to inform things like website redesigns and web applications, omni-channel campaigns, and even guide a brand’s messaging strategy. But I’ve also seen plenty of user interviews go wrong.

Asking questions is easy. Gathering meaningful insights is not.

In a perfect world, we could simply ask users what they wanted and call it a day. But humans are much more complicated than that.

Some interviews participants might hesitate to offer negative (but important) feedback; others don’t want to seem stupid, and avoid telling you they don’t understand a product feature; others are people pleasers, and edit their answers to be nice.

Fortunately, there’s a lot that new user researchers can learn from fields like investigative journalism and psychology—and from each other right here on Medium.

In this article, I’m sharing six tips I’ve learned through research and practice for conducting winning user interviews while avoiding some common research mistakes.

1. Craft strategic user interview questions

An open ended questions helps you avoid “yes” or “no” answers, and helps you draw more out of your interview subject. Getting a short or vague answer can be a big blocker in an interview, but it’s usually the fault of the person asking the question.

Avoid asking people to choose between two options, or answer one specific prompt.

For example, don’t ask: “Do you like reading Medium posts?”

You’re going to get a short answer.

Don’t ask: “What do you like about reading Medium posts?”

Still not good. You’re assuming they enjoy something, and you’re leading them to a positive answer.

Do ask: “Tell me about your experience using Medium.”

Win! No assumptions. Open ended. In fact, it’s pretty vague—but it’s a great starting point. See more on follow-up questions next.

• Reference and further reading: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/leading-questions/

2. Dig deeper with follow-up questions

If your interviewee mentions something that is particularly relevant to your research, simply ask them to expand on it. It’s often tempting to paraphrase what they’ve said. But in research this can actually be a bad thing.

This was a mistake I made when I first transitioned into UX work from copywriting. I had studied communications in school, and would often paraphrase people’s answers because I was trying to be nice. I wanted them to feel heard.

But the point of a user interview is not to create a lasting relationship between you and your interview subject. It’s to figure out real, human needs and desires.

Consider this example: if a user describes a negative experience about a specific feature in your product, paraphrasing their answer will just get you a longer version of what they already said. You miss the nuances.

Not everything is black and white. Maybe they struggle to use one part of the feature, but like other parts of it; maybe they like the design, but not the language; endless possibilities. It’s your job to find the truth.

Don’t say: “You mentioned this is hard. Why?”

Do say: “You mentioned using the X feature. Could you tell us more about that?”

3. Avoid jargon of any kind

Don’t ask people about their user flow, how they feel about a stacked navigation, or if you could improve their experience with progressive disclosure. Avoiding jargon may seem like an obvious tip, but sometimes when we work within a field so long we forget that certain terms actually are jargon, or we use them without realizing it.

This also applies to industry jargon, not just UX jargon. If you’re working on a product or experience for healthcare, don’t assume they’ll understand healthcare industry terms.

Have someone who is outside of your project team review your questions before you start interviews. Ideally, try to find someone who closely matches your user persona. You might be surprised by the words and phrases they’ll catch.

4. Embrace awkward silences

One technique often used by investigative journalists is to embrace moments of silence, because sometimes the best answers come after a pause.

The interviewee may need time to think, and their pause could be a moment of reflection. Or, they might be equally uncomfortable in the silence—so they’ll offer more information to fill space. Whatever the reason, it works.

If you’re really feeling awkward in the silence, but sense that you’re on the brink of learning something useful, you can also just say something like “mmhm.” These small verbal cues let the other person know you’re listening while encouraging them to keep talking.

A little silence can go a long way.

5. Keep your reactions neutral

As a researcher, you have to be conscious of how your own behavior effects the person you are interviewing. Try to avoid reacting strongly to people’s answers, because it’s likely to change how they’ll respond next.

Remember, people are generally nice and sometimes even nervous in an interview. It’s common for interview subjects to want to please you, whether or not they realize they are doing it. If one of their answers excites you, they’re likely to try to answer more questions in the same vein. On the other hand, if you react negatively to an answer, they could be less likely to share more information about that topic.

Or, maybe you’ll interview someone who is feeling disagreeable. Your negative reactions could sway the conversation towards more negative feedback. Human emotions make things complicated.

Either way, you end up moving the conversation in a specific direction without even realizing it. Try to have as little impact on the other person as possible to get the most authentic answers.

6. Don’t mention solutions until the end

A mistake I often see new researchers make is asking people to validate their ideas flat out.

“Hey! Do you like this idea?”

Never jump straight to solutions instead of focusing on objective research into their needs and problems.

Again, remember that people like to please people—you’re likely to get at least some false validation. You’re unlikely to get an authentic answer about whether or not your idea really solves a need. And, you miss out on uncovering more meaningful answers that could help shape your solution idea into a better one.

That said, it’s tempting to ask. If you must, ask for feedback on specific solutions at the end of an interview. Don’t mention any solutions to their problems until you feel like you got as many insights into the problem first.

Liked these tips? Give this story a few claps so others can see it too

Read next:

• Create a Killer Content Style Guide
• The Writer’s Guide to User Interviews
• Three Activities for Winning Brand Voice Workshops

Veronica Cámara is a content strategy consultant, writer, and educator based in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Her work takes a human-centered approach to content design for clients in technology and financial services. Learn more about working together at www.avoagency.com.

You can also say hello on Instagram and Twitter.

6 Tips for Better User Interviews was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There’s a phrase I see in content-related job descriptions over and over that guarantees a hard eye-roll from me every time.

The phrase goes something like this:

“This role will brainstorm content ideas for social media, blogs, etc…”

In fact, I’ve seen this phrase in almost every single job description I’ve looked at over the years for a variety of content related positions, from Social Media Managers to Marketers to Content Strategists.

After leaving my corporate job to start a content strategy agency, I’ve made it my mission to help startups change their approach to content.

Why? Because great content isn’t produced by luck, creativity, or magic. It’s the result of research, planning, and strategy.

Problems with the “brainstorming” approach

1. Creating, publishing and managing content takes a lot of resources. Brainstorming is like gambling those resources away.

Creative brainstorming could produce amazing content. It also might produce content that isn’t actually helpful or interesting to your users, or you might end up publishing that content on the wrong channel.

Without a real strategy in place, you’re relying on creativity and luck—and those things just aren’t smart to bet on.

When startups rely on the brainstorm method, they’re basically just taking a gamble. Depending on how talented your content team is, the risk may be pretty low.

But my question is, why gamble when you could instead invest a small amount of time into research and planning to product far better content?

2. Relying on the creativity of individual people makes it harder to scale a content team and onboard new employees

As mentioned above, pulling content ideas out of a hat could work if the hat is smart enough. But that’s not a scalable, repeatable process. That means that when it’s time to scale your content team from one person to a team, it’s going to be harder to reproduce the same type and quality of content from different people.

Typically, startups that rely on creativity to create content also lack strategic documentation. Things like style guides, editorial calendars, or even simple channel strategy guides usually don’t exist.

The result is scattered, disconnected content that lacks purpose and value for the end user.

It’s also a waste of money, since it’s not pulling its weight to support business goals.

Why startups need content strategy

Content strategy is the discipline that focuses on ensuring that content is useful and delightful to users, and valuable to the business. It takes a strategic approach to the entire content lifecycle, from planning and publishing to how it’s maintained over time. By implementing just a bit of lean content strategy, startups can avoid the imminent problems that come with the “brainstorm” approach, and get more return on investment for their publishing efforts.

By taking a bit of time to research your . . .

• Target audience
• Competitor’s content
• Performance of any existing content (if applicable)

and developing things like . . .

• A core content strategy
• Tone and voice guidelines
• Strategy for each publication channel
• An efficient content workflow and process

you avoid creating content that is crappy, useless, inappropriate for your audience, misaligned with your brand, or published in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Content strategy is smarter, leaner, and better supports long-term growth for organizations of all sizes.

But wait. Isn’t brainstorming good sometimes?

Sure! Brainstorming can be a great way to get ideas flowing, solve problems, and build rapport amongst a team.

I’m not here to say that any instance of brainstorming is bad. What I am sure of is that you can’t rely on brainstorming and creativity as your only means of producing content.

Now on with the show.

Content strategy framework for startups

Should you decide to start approaching content more strategically, it’s worth saying that it doesn’t require a big budget or a ton of time. All you need is one person on your team to focus on research and long-term strategy planning for a few weeks.

Below, I’ll give an overview of some of the most important steps to take. For a deeper dive, read Content Strategy for Startups: The Complete Guide.

1. Start with audience research and leave assumptions at the door

Too often, well-meaning marketers fill out “Customer Avatar” templates without ever speaking to an actual living person who matches that description.

While internet research and demographic studies can be helpful, consider them a starting point. The most valuable insights into your audience you will ever find are the insights that actually come from your audience.

Here’s a great guide to conducting user interviews. And here’s another resource with lean user research tactics.

2. If you already published content, look at the data

Dig through the data of any existing content you have to see what’s performed well and what hasn’t.

When it comes to content data, all of the many KPIs can get overwhelming quickly. Before you start, just pick a few metrics that mean the most to you based on your goals.

First, record your findings in a simple spreadsheet in Google or AirTable. Include a title for each content piece and the metrics you’ve chosen. Once you’re done, take a step back and try to notice high-level themes and takeaways.

For more on this, check out How to Audit Content for Quality.

3. Take a look at what your competitors are doing

Competitive research allows you to avoid costly mistakes and find unmet needs in the market that your brand can fill. By spending just a few hours researching your competitor’s content, you give your brand and your content a far better chance of succeeding.

Take a look at my detailed approach to content-focused competitive analysis here. If you’re working on a product, check out Supercharge Your Products With a Competitive Audit from Shopify UX.

4. Use all of those insights to come up with a strategic plan for your content

Learning about your audience, your own content and your competitor’s content is going to tell you a lot. Once you’ve completed this research, you should have everything you need to make informed, strategic decisions about your startup’s approach to content for the long term.

Armed with your research, you can answer crucial questions like:

• What’s our overall brand message?
• What’s our brand’s tone of voice?
• What channels should we use, and how should we use them?
• How often should we publish content?
• How often should we update our content?
• What’s our plan for tracking and measuring success?

And with these questions answered, you can start to create some documentation to help guide future employees and scale your team. Instead of relying on a single person to come up with brilliant ideas, you’ll have a strategy and system to publish content that adds value to both your customers and business.

Thanks for reading! Give this a few claps if it was useful, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 👏 👏 👏

Veronica Camara is a content strategy consultant, writer, and traveler based in Austin, Texas. Learn more about her consulting work at www.avoagency.com or keep up with her travels and say hello on Instagram.

Why Brainstorming Content Doesn’t Work was originally published in Entrepreneurship Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.